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Still
helpless: Home is not where their hearts are Sixty five-year-old Seeniya Jayamani lives in a tsunami refugee camp at Ralodai in Batticaloa, a fishing village in the Vakarai Division which is under Tiger-control. Jeyamani lost her husband when her village was shelled in 1992 during the war. She had the misfortune of never being able to see her husband’s body. Jayamani
said her husband was a fisherman and the family comprising, husband,
wife and their three daughters at the time aged nine, five and a
toddler of two lived in a Cadjan-thatch tiny house near the sea
at Ralodai. Jeyamani earned a living by sewing and weaving and neither an aid agency nor an NGO had offered the family any help during their 12 years of privation until finally the tsunami on that fateful December 26, washed away all their belongings. According
to statistics compiled by the Batticaloa District Secretariat, the
war has resulted in more than 2,680 women being widowed, the disappearance
of 1,560 youths, the deaths of some 6,400 civilians and 4,100 wounded.
The homes were either attacked or shelled, were shot at, beaten or arrested. Fifty three percent suffered from having their close family members killed violently and the disappearance of a family member following abduction or detention. Ninety Five percent of the children recalled events for which the definition of personal experience or witnessing events applied in instances of actual or threatened death, serious injury and threat to integrity of self or others. Ninety two percent of these events were directly conflict-related, as distinct from other sources as domestic violence, or accident. Severe (20%) and moderate (39%) levels of post-traumatic psychological distress were found, as well as similar levels of depression and unresolved grief reactions. Many children disclosed traumatic experiences previously held a secret from family members and other adults. The number of NGOs in Batticaloa before the tsunami catastrophe was 15, while this number has increased to 46 since the killer waves struck the district. Even
though six months has passed since the tidal waves hit the shores
of the Batticaloa district, more than 19,000 families whose houses
were completely washed away are still continuing to live in tents.
These tents which are now six months old are gradually becoming
inhabitable having been ravaged by exposure to the elements and
the extreme climatic conditions in the area. He
said if the stabilising process is to move faster then the distribution
process should be handled jointly by the group of NGOs. The programme co-ordinator said NGOs in the district have now started to build transitional houses with the participation of the refugees and the refugees have to live in these transit houses for two to three years until permanent houses are completed. “The life time of a transit house is also about two years since the timber used in building is not very durable”, he said. Mr. Yogeshvaran said the NGOs have a “Cash for Work” programme where the refugees are paid Rs. 7,000 for building a transit house with three of them involved in the building, a single transit shelter takes two days to complete. “A transit house is 20 square metres with two rooms and a kitchen. The basic plan for these houses had been developed after discussions with men and women after taking into account the cultural preferences of the community”, an Oxfam official said. He said the houses were built using cascading plank as cover for the walls and using coconut timber to build the main structures. “The timber is transported from Kurunegala and Kandy”, he said. The official said cement blocks were used for the flooring and as there were building materials available in the Vakarai division, women in the refugee camps were trained to make cement blocks by Oxfam. He said thatched coconut leaves are used for roofing and this is preferred by the refugees as it helps beat the extreme heat. “To complete each transit house including labour charges costs Rs.52,320”, the Oxfam official said. The temporary houses are being built on desert type land where there is hardly a sign of any greenery; the sun’s scorching rays hits the land evaporating even the last drop of water. Before the land was cleared, it was covered with shrubs and bushes which was of little or no value. The
United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) said that as a result of strong winds, some aluminum
roofing sheets and cajdans of a few of the recently completed temporary
shelters were blown off. In response, the Shelter Task Force in Batticaloa has urged all those engaged in the construction of semi-permanent shelters to inspect their respective shelters and take appropriate action for any upgrading or reinforcement that is needed. Shelter officials agreed that with the task force support, the monitoring and reinforcement work on these shelters should ideally be carried out by the beneficiaries themselves. |
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